Feb 24, 2015 11:02 AM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

A new genetic study has revealed some perplexing characteristics of the carnivorous sea dwelling bladderwort plant.

According to the Washington Post, authors of a study published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution found the plant's genome was smaller than normal, but somehow contains more genes than reasonably expected.

Study lead author Victor Albert, a professor of biological sciences at the University at Buffalo, said Utricularia gibba's DNA is a mere three percent "junk," whereas most organisms' DNA is "junk."

"The story is that we can see that throughout its history, the bladderwort has habitually gained and shed oodles of DNA," Albert said in a press release. "With a shrunken genome, we might expect to see what I would call a minimal DNA complement: a plant that has relatively few genes - only the ones needed to make a simple plant. But that's not what we see."

The blatterwort was observed to have 80 DNA base pairs, which is about as much as a grape has, but the aquatic plant's genes outnumber the grape's 28,500 to 26,300.

"When you have the kind of rampant DNA deletion that we see in the bladderwort, genes that are less important or redundant are easily lost," Albert said. "The genes that remain -- and their functions - are the ones that were able to withstand this deletion pressure, so the selective advantage of having these genes must be pretty high.

"Accordingly, we found a number of genetic enhancements, like the meat-dissolving enzymes, that make Utricularia distinct from other species.

"When you look at the bladderwort's history, it's shedding genes all the time, but it's also gaining them at an appreciable enough rate, permitting it to stay alive and produce appropriate adaptations for its unique environmental niche."

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